There is always a need to store various items in proximity to a bed, mattress, seat (home, vehicle, boat, etc.), or the like. Such items may include remote controls, glasses, reading materials, tissues, medications, flashlights, firearms, adult novelties, and the like. Conventional storage solutions include pocketed “flaps”—a portion of which tucks between the mattress and box spring of a bed or the cushion and base of a seat, pocketed “flaps” that fasten to the sheet or blanket of a bed or the fabric of a seat, and storage compartments that are integrally formed with the sheet or blanket of a bed or the fabric of a seat.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,972 (Mack, et al.), by its own language, discloses a sundries caddy to hold sundries for use with a fastening arrangement in being suspended from a bed. A suspendable container portion of the caddy is held by a clampable portion over the edge of a mattress supported by a mismatched hooks and loops patches fastener adhered to the mattress support supplemented by the pressure of the mattress thereon and on much of the remainder of the clampable portion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,292,963 (Couture), by its own language, discloses a bedding accessory system which includes a bed pocket having an opening therein and a fastening system which may be secured to the sheets of a bed without moving the mattress. The fastening system is a multipurpose one and may be adapted for different uses.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,854,139 (Lamy), by its own language, discloses a bed covering fastening system that provides for removable attachment of items such as storage pockets to a bed covering. The system includes a two part fastener, one part of which is integral with a bed covering and the other part of which is integral with an item to be attached to the bed covering. The fastener part integral with the bed covering is positioned so that attached items hang down along the side or end of a bed. There may be a number of fastener parts positioned in a spaced apart configuration around the bed covering so that an item may be attached to various locations on the bed covering and a number of items may be so attached. A reinforcing band may also be included on the bed covering to prevent tearing of the bed covering upon removal of the item. The invention also contemplates that the item may be attached to a top covering, which may in turn be partly attached to a bottom covering. Also disclosed is a bed covering fastener system.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,131,152 (Wootten, Jr., et al.), by its own language, discloses an improved pocketed bed sheet that avoids inadvertent placement of objects in a pocket, better controls placement and removal of objects from within its pocket, and deters babies and toddlers from accessing such pocket, all without the need for engagement or disengagement of a fastening member. The improved pocketed bed sheet includes a fabric body configured to substantially cover a mattress and a pocket provided on the fabric body. The pocket includes a wall configured to hold objects in the pocket and a diagonal fabric edge that defines a diagonal opening for predetermined angular ingress and egress into the pocket for controlling the placement and removal of objects within the pocket. The diagonal fabric edge is disposed at an angle relative to an edge of the fabric body.
All of these conventional storage solutions, however, suffer from the fact that they are difficult to place, use, remove, reconfigure and/or clean; unnecessarily limit the variety of pocket configurations that may be enjoyed; and/or are significantly attached to or integrally formed with the sheet or blanket of a bed or the fabric of a seat—making them cumbersome and less than user friendly.